


Something Stupid ... Like Love

by the_milky_way



Series: Finding Love [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Boys In Love, Caring Eddie Diaz, Cuddling, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, Literal Sleeping Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Sleeping Together, Sleepy Kisses, Sort Of, tired!Buck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:21:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23598280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_milky_way/pseuds/the_milky_way
Summary: Buck is exhausted. And he doesn't even care that he's clingy. He just wants to stay there, pressed against Eddie. That's it. That's all.Buck isn’t a particularly clumsy person. Sure he has his moments when he is tired or distracted but he usually has his limbs under control and thinks he is rather graceful. Not today though.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Finding Love [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698586
Comments: 58
Kudos: 938





	Something Stupid ... Like Love

**Author's Note:**

> I just had this one scene of Buck clinging to Eddie's back on my mind. No idea how this came out of that but I kinda like. This pairing makes me write fluff again.
> 
> Thanks for the betaing services [Hecate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hecate) . All remaining mistakes are of course mine.

Buck is late. Really, really late. The rush makes him stumble when he gets out of the Uber with barely a glance back, and he almost runs across the yard towards the school. 

He promised Christopher to be there for his science presentation. And since it’s Eddie’s day off Buck didn’t have the luxury of being reminded every other hour to be punctual. Not that Eddie does that all the time, only for important things. So yeah, okay, basically all the time. Buck’s not bad at remembering things, he’s just sometimes trying to juggle too many things at once and then one or two sort of fall off the wagon. 

It’s been a wild shift today. Call after call after call. One more exhausting than the other, and it all left Buck craving for some shut-eye. Of course, Eddie not being there and Buck almost drunk with exhaustion meant he completely forgot to set his alarm. He not only missed the end of shift but slept through Hen trying to wake him as well.

Only Bobby checking the bunk rooms one last time saved him from missing Christopher’s presentation altogether. He almost flew out of the station, still in his uniform and eternally thankful that he’d showered after the last call. He hadn’t driven his Jeep this morning, seeing as Eddie would be already at the school and Christopher had insisted on Buck having dinner with them. They’d take Eddie’s truck home and Buck would probably end up calling another Uber later.

Falling over himself to get to the schoolyard where Eddie had texted him they’d be, Buck catches a glimpse of himself in the glass of one of the doors. He internally cringes at his wild hair. Curls everywhere, sticking up left and right. He hates it sometimes, still too aware that it makes him look young. There hadn’t been time to fix his hair at the station, not that he would have thought about it anyway. The distinct lack of gel in his curls have them spring with every step he takes. Well, nothing to do about it, so he’ll have to live with it. Still doesn’t stop him from running his hands through his hair in an attempt to tame it last minute.

Entering the schoolyard, Buck almost instantly sees Eddie. He's talking to Chris’s English teacher. The one Buck had sort of teased him about during their last shift together. He ignores the almost painful thud-and-skip his heart does at the sight and sets off towards them. In his haste, Buck doesn’t really look where he is going, which in retrospect he’ll be really glad about. But in the moment it happens, he wishes for the earth to open up and swallow him whole.

Buck isn’t a particularly clumsy person. Sure he has his moments when he is tired or distracted but he usually has his limbs under control and thinks he is rather graceful. Not today though. Today the combination of exhaustion, excitement and hurry is his downfall - quite literally.

He’s too focused on Eddie’s profile, on the small smile that is visible despite the angle. So when he comes rushing down the walkway into the yard, Buck completely misses the transition from concrete to grass, trips over it and goes flying. For a brief second, he sees the teacher’s brown eyes widen a fraction and then his view is obscured by Eddie’s back. Or rather by the maroon sweater Eddie is wearing.

Because really, he just has to be close enough to crash into Eddie. The force with which he stumbles into his best friend has him flinging his arms out to keep himself from crushing his face into the hard muscles he knows are there. Eddie grunts at the impact but stays standing, not even moving a step. Buck is not sure how but his face is squished into Eddie’s neck where the sweater gives way to tanned warm skin. And Buck’s arms find their way around Eddie’s body. Everything sort of stops for a second.

“Oh my god, “ Buck mumbles into the warm skin his face is pressed into. For a second, he thinks how comfy Eddie feels pressed this close. Then he shuts his brain up and tries not to think about it anymore. Nothing good this way lies.

He’s usually not someone who blushes easily but he’s pretty sure his face is fire engine red right now. Buck wants to hide from the world and stay where he is. He is so exhausted that he could probably fall asleep like this. Pressed against Eddie, hiding his face against soft skin and not confronting reality any time soon. He knows he can’t, though, which is a little depressing, to be honest. But the resigned sigh that escapes him is enough to make Eddie chuckle a little.

“Tripped, didn’t you?” Eddie asks with amusement in his voice. 

Buck hears the eye-roll even. At least Eddie’s not mad at him, which Buck doesn’t think he could have dealt with in this state The exhaustion from before rears its head more vehemently and Buck has to fight the urge to burrow deeper into Eddie’s warmth. Also, Eddie smells so fucking good that Buck really, really doesn’t want to move.

“Noooo. I totally planned to make a fool of myself and mow you down in the process. Like I always do. ‘Course I tripped,” Buck says while picking his head up and moving around Eddie. He keeps a hand on Eddie’s hip, to steady himself and to... well he doesn’t really know why. Buck slides around the body in front of him to stand at Eddie’s side.

When he dares to look at his best friend, he gets the eye-roll he heard before but a smile as well. There’s also an raised eyebrow and something close to concern in Eddie’s eyes, which yeah, Buck attributes to the way he must look right now. Tired as hell and disheveled six ways to Sunday. He also doesn’t get lost in warm brown eyes, nope, not at all. 

Yeah, who is he kidding, of course he does. It’s been happening a lot lately and Buck’s sort of mad at himself for letting it. But for some reason, Eddie’s eyes draw him in every time. He knows why, he just doesn’t have the guts to really think about it. 

A throat being cleared snaps him out of the moment, which is a little embarrassing because he has ignored Ms. Flores all this time. And he doesn’t really feel bad about it. He has manners though, smiles at the teacher when he looks away from Eddie and at her.

“Hello. I’m Ms. Flores. Christopher’s teacher,” she says with a friendly smile. But the look she grants him sort of says that she unsurprisingly doesn’t know what to think of him.

“Sorry. Hi. Uh... I’m Ev.. Buck. I’m Buck. Yeah, that’s me,” he stutters.

And dear God, can his brain please come back online? This is not how this whole thing was supposed to go. Seeing her slightly astonished face makes him cringe a little, and he moves closer to Eddie again. It also makes him realize that his hand still rests on Eddie’s hip. He surreptitiously moves it to the small of Eddie’s back and hopes it isn’t too obvious.

“How tired are you?” Eddie asks a little exasperated but with a smile nonetheless.  
Buck blinks a little and suddenly feels even more drunk, now that the adrenaline high from rushing over has settled a bit.

“Veeeerrryyy,” Buck answers a little childishly but grins at Eddie anyway. 

He has already made a fool out of himself and he’s so exhausted that he doesn’t really care one way or the other. He just wants to see Christopher, admire his art, be close to Eddie and go home with them. He has his priorities straight for once. Buck almost giggles at “straight” but bites his lips in the last second. He really, really doesn’t want to come off even crazier than he already does. 

“You didn’t have to come, you know? It would have been okay.”

And yeah, Buck knows it would have been okay but he promised. And he was still standing and awake enough to be there.

“I promised, Eds. No way I’d miss this presentation,” Buck answers with a smile and tries to sound as awake as possible. Seeing Eddie look at him with even more concern makes it clear that he fails. But Buck doesn’t care, he just wants to be here for Chris.

“Buck!” Speaking of the devil. Buck smiles when he turns to greet Christopher. He only regrets that he has to let go of Eddie to do that. His hand slides over warm muscles. He’s pretty sure he just imagines the shiver he feels just before the contact breaks. He’s got Christopher in his arms a few seconds later and doesn’t mind at all anymore.

“Hey, superman. Ready to show me your genius work?”

“Yes,” Christoper answers with a proud smile. 

None of them mention that Buck has already seen it and knows what it does. They’ve worked on it together, after all. He picks Christopher up and doesn’t hesitate to settle him on his hip when the boy looks at him. They have that sort of silent communication that fascinates Buck in ways he can’t explain. It’s almost the same Chris has with Eddie but Buck never dares to compare. He isn’t sure he has the right to see himself in a similar position as Eddie when it comes to Christopher. But he loves that they can do that.

“We match,” Chris says playfully when Buck has straightened up and Chris can really look at him. The boy’s hand in his hair makes it obvious what he means. Buck grins. 

“Huh. Guess we do.”

“Did you… fall asleep?” Chris asks. 

Buck is acutely aware of how he looks right now, but still, this question shouldn’t make him feel embarrassed. But he does feel called out a bit, because yeah, falling asleep is the reason why right now his curls run as wild as Chris’ do.

Buck dares a glance at Eddie who hasn’t said a single word since Christopher joined them and blinks. Because Eddie... well, Eddie is looking at them like he just realized something big and is trying to wrap his head around it. Buck just hopes Eddie hasn’t left the stove on or something. 

“Caught me there, buddy,” Buck grins at Chris. “Shift was pretty hard. Took a nap so that I could be up and running for your awesome presentation.”

The boy’s hand on his cheek and then on his head again, patting down the rampant curls, makes him laugh a little. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Eddie talking to Ms. Flores again. This time though, there is no smile and Eddie looks a little pale. Buck is about to ask if everything is okay when Christopher pipes up again.

“Should set an alarm next time.”

The laugh that escapes him should be embarrassing because it’s loud but it feels freeing. Buck’s happy with this kid in his arms, and he wants the world to know. 

“Let’s go inside, yeah?” Buck smiles at the enthusiastic nod he receives and turns towards the entrance to the school building where the presentation is being held. He sees Carla standing there, watching them with a smile and walks over to greet her. When he can’t feel Eddie following them he looks over his shoulder.

“Coming, Eddie?”

The startled step forward Eddie takes shouldn’t be cute but it still makes Buck's heart skip a beat. Buck thinks he should be concerned about the frequency his heart skips lately but then he knows exactly what it is and why it keeps happening. There is no real way for him to avoid it either. So he hoists Christ up a little, smiles at Ms. Flores again who looks somewhat perplexed, and waits for Eddie to get moving. 

+++

Christopher is dead to the world when they finally make it to Eddie’s place. Buck just feels like he is. They stopped for dinner on the way back, and it took the last of his energy to stay awake and actually eat something. Eddie has been watching him with this weird kind of look ever since Buck complimented Christopher’s project and managed to impress the teacher with his wide knowledge of science facts. The look stayed throughout dinner. And Buck’s pretty sure if he turned now, it would still be there.

He’s stumbling his way into Eddie’s house, contemplating if he was awake enough to use the Uber-App or if he should just faceplant into the couch. Eddie’s carrying Christopher inside and snorts at the way Buck just stands there, too tired to make a decision. Somehow he loses time, because he completely misses Eddie getting Chris ready for bed and settling him in. He blinks back into the present with Eddie right in front of him, frown on his face and concern even more apparent. 

“Chris wants to say goodnight. You up for it?”

“Always,” Buck doesn’t even hesitate.That kid deserves the world, and even if he’s about to collapse Buck wouldn’t deny Chris anything. He walks into the doorjamb, though. He decides to ignore Eddie’s little laugh and save his dignity. He isn’t so lucky on his way back.

When he leaves Chris’ room, Buck manages to close the door and take a step. But it’s only one before he stumbles over one of Christopher’s toy cars and goes flying through the hallway. Right into Eddie. His face is, again, squished against his best friend’s body, this time in the front though. He doesn’t blush, at all. He only feels a little warm in the face. Eddie’s arms are up and around him in an instant, Buck’s hands find purchase on the other man’s hips again. 

“This sort of feels like a deja-vu,” Eddie says with a snort.

“Urgh…”, is all Buck actually manages to utter before he decides to hell with and buries his face into the crook of Eddie’s neck. He’ll stay right there and sleep. Yeah, that’s exactly what he’s going to do. Buck thinks he tells Eddies as much, mumbled against warm skin but he can’t be sure. His brain is on the way to going completely offline. Judging from the slow rumble of laughter that is shaking Eddie’s body, Buck’s pretty sure he did say something.

“Okay, come on. Let’s get you to bed. You are dead on your feet,” Eddie whispers into Buck’s hair and starts to move. Buck’s not sure how but they manage to shuffle along the hallway into Eddie’s room. He feels hands on his uniform shirt, moves his limbs in ways he doesn’t recognize and sort of snuggles into the soft Henley that is dragged over his head a few seconds later. He steps out of his pants at some point. It should be weird, being manhandled by his best friend like that. And it’s proof to how gone he actually is, that it takes him until he’s in Eddie’s bed to realize that he is in Eddie's bed.

“Uh.. Eds?”

“Go to sleep, Evan.” Eddie has never used his given name before, and it makes Buck a little speechless. In a good way though, Hearing Eddie say it brings a smile to his lips and without a second thought, Buck lets his octopus tendencies run wild. Eddie doesn’t stand a chance, and he also makes a good pillow. It should be the last thought before Buck finally succumbs.

But then he jerks awake, literally feels his entire body do it. Because there is something that has been stuck in his head all evening, and it wants to be dealt with right the fuck now. Buck curses his brain to mars right then. Eddie curses out loud.

“Dios, Buck. What?” Eddie pulls him closer though, tucks Buck’s head back to where it was pillowed on Eddie’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” Buck tries to say and hopes it comes out at least a little coherent. “What’ya say to Ms. Flores?”

All snuggled up to his best friend he may or may not have a major crush on, Buck feels a shiver that goes through Eddie’s body when Buck’s lips move against his skin. He’s a little proud of himself that he doesn’t follow the urge to lick - a little disappointed as well. The blinds are drawn in the room but it’s not completely dark, so Buck can see the white of Eddie’s t-shirt shimmer in front of his one open eye. The other is smooshed into Eddie’s shoulder. 

Buck can’t remember Eddie changing and only now realizes that his hand is spread out over a solid chest, clenching the soft material of the aforementioned t-shirt. Okay, so he has been really out of it. 

“Seriously? Now, you wanna talk?” Eddie sighs into the darkness, chest moving under Buck’s fingers.

“Just… you looked weird. Like… like weird,” Buck not so eloquently sighs back. He’s pretty sure it doesn’t make sense but his brain won’t shut up and really, really wants to know why Eddie looked like the teacher had pulled the rug from under his feet.

“There was no rug, Buck,” Eddie sounds exasperated but also fond. Oh and oops, Buck’s brain to mouth filter is offline.

“Still weird,” Buck snuffles even closer to Eddie because apparently being almost asleep means he’s apparently allowed to do so. He’s not going to question it, even if they’ll pretend it never happened in the morning.

“She just asked if you are family,” Eddie finally answers. Buck doesn’t really see what the problem is. Eddie has told him a thousand times that he’s part of the family. It shouldn’t make him look all pale and confused.

“She also said we look good with each other.” Yes, that would explain it. Buck’s sort of frozen there, body lined up against Eddie’s, head tucked into his neck and arm still splayed out across Eddie’s chest. He is holding his breath, suddenly more awake than he has been all evening. He’s not sure if he wants to hear any more right now. But then Eddie moves his hand up and covers Buck’s. He curls his fingers slightly, gently and then they are sort of holding hands. It’s more intimate than it has any right to be, Buck thinks. 

He feels the heat radiating off of Eddie and suddenly hopes. He just hopes and keeps holding his breath.

“Which given the fact that for a second when I met her the first time, I thought...Yeah... no, not important. Just having someone, an outsider, saying that… and your little stunt didn’t help, by the way,” Eddie goes on, squeezes Buck’s finger in reassurance when Buck flinches a little. He was exhausted, goddammit. 

“My brain just went and did something stupid.”

“Like?”

Eddie laughs at that, shakes his head and presses a kiss into Buck’s curls. Pulls him closer. It should be uncomfortable but it isn’t. It’s the most comfortable Buck has felt in ages.

“Like calling it love. Being in love. And I was... Am okay with it. Really okay with it,” The answer sounds confident but Buck hears the uncertainty nonetheless. 

“Oh, well… Good then. Would have been really awkward if it was just me.” Buck just follows his instinct, moves his head up slightly and meets Eddie’s lips in the softest kiss he’s ever had. His heart’s beating a tad faster but his body is so ready for sleep that he just sighs and cuddles back into Eddie.

“Sleep now. Talk in the morning. Not wanna fall asleep in th’ midl’ f…”

The last thing he hears and feels is Eddie’s chuckles and his fingers being brought up to soft lips. Sleep claims him the second his mind catches up with everything. Sleep is stronger this time.

The End


End file.
